Black Public Media (BPM) will hold its seventh PitchBLACK Forum — now the nation’s largest pitch competition for independent filmmakers and creative technologists producing works about the Black experience — on Wednesday, April 24, in Manhattan.
Producers and technologists will compete for up to $150,000 in funding for documentary projects and up to $50,000 in funding for immersive projects before a panel of media professionals and an in-person and virtual audience of funders, distributors and industry leaders. Winners will be announced at the PitchBLACK Awards on Thursday, April 25, honoring award-winning director, producer and film editor Sam Pollard.
(Photo: C. LaMont Hamilton Photographic Services)
The annual event, which draws a who’s who of public media, commercial television, documentary film and funders, is sponsored by Netflix and PBS. Netflix’s continued support is part of the company’s Fund for Creative Equity, a dedicated effort to help build new opportunities for underrepresented communities within entertainment.
Since launching PitchBLACK in 2015, BPM — a Harlem-based national nonprofit which funds and distributes original content — has awarded more than $1.6 million to 20 projects, some of which have premiered on PBS, WORLD, Create and PBS Digital. Alumni of the program have gone on to produce film, television and immersive projects for PBS, CNN, Showtime, Netflix, HBO, BET, NBC, The CW and more.
“Every year, PitchBLACK presents an amazing array of talented creatives and their extraordinary projects exploring the past, present and future of the Black diaspora,” said Leslie Fields-Cruz, executive director of BPM. “We are excited to see and hear what the participants have in store for us this year and, ultimately, for audiences across the country.”
Competing in the film segment of the PitchBLACK Forum are: Everette S. Hamlette (producer Craig T. Williams); Daryl B. Jones (producer Kristin Lesko), Jason Goldman (producer Emily Kuester), Reniqua Allen-Lamphere, and Juan C. Dávila (producer Camila Rodríguez). Creators competing in the immersive segment of the PitchBLACK Forum include: MaryAnn Talavera, Baff Akoto (producer Lidz-Ama Appiah), Ethel-Ruth Tawe, Andrea “Philly” Walls, Jazsalyn and Johannes Barfield. The PitchBLACK Forum takes place at The Greene Space on April 24 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (film) and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. (immersive). The Forum is moderated by advertising futurist Tameka Kee.
Winners of the PitchBLACK Forum will be announced at the PitchBLACK Awards on Thursday, April 25 at 7 p.m. Baltimore-based comic Sir Alex is back as emcee for the event, which honors the prolific and trailblazing film editor and director Sam Pollard. Known for his directorial work capturing iconic Black figures and history in films like Eyes On The Prize, Maynard, MLK/FBI, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power and Mr. SOUL! and his work as a film editor for some of Spike Lee’s most renowned films, Pollard will receive the BPM Trailblazer Award for his excellence in cinema and his dedication to mentoring the next generation of filmmakers.
As part of its tribute to Pollard, BPM will present a three-city retrospective of his films as well as virtual screenings from April 22 to May 5. In-person screenings will take place in Baltimore, Los Angeles and New York City with some screenings followed by conversations with the filmmaker. The New York screenings are produced in partnership with ImageNation.
For more information on the retrospective, visit https://blackpublicmedia.org/pitch-black/pb-2024/.
